Patria Sets Sail
by JetGirl1832
Summary: Set during the end of World War Two and the British Mandate, Alex Enjolras is a volunteer on a immigrant ship called 'Patria', but aboard this vessel is a young refugee, Eponine Thenardier. (Not 100% Historically Accurate) Temporary Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I discovered that during the British Mandate there was a ship called 'Patria' and from that I came up with the idea of this story, I will be taking a lot of creative license with this story to better suit the story I want to tell, but there are parts that will be historically accurate, please read and review!

"And that should be the last one," Tony Courfeyrac grunted as he and Alex Enjolras placed a bunk bed into the bottom of the ship they were volunteering on, it was to be transporting Jewish refugees out of France and into Palestine. "It's really crowded in here and we haven't even gotten anyone on board," Tony wiped his hand across his forehead, they had been moving supplies and preparing the ship all day.

"They have to get out of here, we can't let them keep living like this, and they just got out of those camps too," Alex shook his head angrily, "I wish we could give them more comfort."

Tony put his hand Alex's shoulder, "Alright, so what we are doing might not be much but we are helping them, now let's get out of here and back on deck." Together they ascended the stairs from the bottom of the ship and up onto the deck where they saw more of their fellow volunteers. Luc Combeferre and Laurent Joly who were to be medics on board and their nurse a young girl with light brown hair by the name of Cosette.

"We have plenty of Penicillin," Luc nodded as he was going over the supply list, "bandages and the like-"

Alex and Tony kept walking and they found two other men like themselves conversing, one was a rather skinny young man, the other was rather muscular and tall. "You two volunteers as well?" Tony approached them first, the two men looked up and offered friendly smiles.

"Yes we are," the more muscular man replied, "I'm Christophe Bahorel, but please if you would just call me Chris."

"I'm Jehan, Jehan Prouvaire," the other man held out his hand in greeting.

"Alex Enjolras," Alex shook Jehan's hand.

"Antoine, well actually Tony Courfeyrac," Tony smiled.

"Good to meet you before we set sail, I feel it will simply become too hectic," Chris replied, "all those refugees... And this ship really isn't even mean to carry more than a thousand." He glanced around the deck and at the makeshift harbor and pier that they were docked in.

"They should be arriving within a few hours," Jehan spoke up, "we better make sure that there aren't any more last details that need to be taken care of, have any of you seen Asher about?"

Asher was a man who had been born in Palestine on a kibbutz, he was helping with this particular mission because a member of the Palmach the elite branch of the their fledgling defenses.

Alex and Tony shook their heads, "He's bound to be around here somewhere," Alex replied, "perhaps if we split up we'll find him? He sometimes tends to be in the most unusual of places."

With that the four men parted in their own ways to continue their work to make sure that this was all going to run smoothly, if not for them but for the sake of the refugees who were coming in search of a new home land in the arid country of Palestine.  
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In one of the trucks carrying refugees to the port to the ship bound for Palestine sat a young girl of 17 and her two siblings, her younger sister and brother. Her sister had lain her head on her shoulder and was dozing peacefully which she hadn't been able to do in a long while, her younger brother nervously clutched at her hand to the point that it almost hurt.

"Gav please loosen your grip," She pleaded with the twelve year old.

"But 'Ponine, what if they come and take us back there?" The boy looked at her with fear marring his young face.

"Gavroche," Éponine placed her hand on her younger brother's cheek, "I need you to believe me when I say this, they aren't coming back, do you know how far we have come?" Someone else on the truck hushed her and so she was forced to lower her voice, "we've walked so many meters, we went on a train, this truck and we are leaving Europe."

"Leaving? But why?" Gavroche asked.

"We can't stay and you know that," Éponine sighed, as much as she loved her home country she knew that they needed to flee, it wasn't safe for Jews like her and her siblings, they had to get out and they had found an escape and they were going to take it. Frankly despite all her learning and education Éponine wasn't even sure she could correctly identify Palestine on a map and yet that was exactly where they were headed. "Think of it as a book," she smiled at her younger brother weakly, "it's a new chapter in our lives... Now lay your head down and get some rest."

Gavroche sighed but complied with his sister and lay his head in her lap, within minutes the young boy was fast asleep as they bounced along the road.

Éponine, unlike her siblings, could not sleep, she had too many thoughts in her head that were going off all at once, she had to admit that like Gavroche she was afraid, but she couldn't let him see that. Too much had happened in her young life for her to come out unscathed, her entire family had been taken from their home to Drancy an internment camp, that was a breeze compared to what followed. Months later they were taken out of France and to Poland to Auschwitz, she had been separated from her father and brother and thought that they would take Gav away, to kill him. Her only reassurance was that occasionally through the fence she would see her father closely followed by her brother. Then one day her father was gone, but amazingly Gavroche was still there, a few months later their mother came down with the most awful cough and the soldiers had taken her away too. When she saw the smoke rising from the chimney that day she cried to the point that a guard beat her with the back of his gun and threatened to shoot her. Then came the walking, they walked so far, so many died... But Éponine, Gavroche and Azelma survived, along with two other boys that they knew, one who had since gone missing. Eventually the British came and freed them, but where could they go? Éponine was terrified to go back to France and so she walked from town to town until she found other refugees planning to flee to Palestine.

"'Ponine, are you alright?" A voice in the dark whispered to her from nearby, it was Marius Pontmercy, a boy who had been in Auschwitz with them and survived the march, and who Éponine had fallen in love with.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Éponine asked sniffing slightly.

"You're crying," Marius replied.

"Oh," Éponine blushed and using the sleeve of her coat she wiped away the tears that had been falling down her face.

At that moment the truck had gone around a sharp bend and Éponine slid on the bench she was sitting on and her sister woke up, "Are we there yet 'Ponine?" Azelma Thenardier asked.

Azelma was only a year younger than Éponine but was always much too shy to go out on her own, or at least that was what it was before the war had broken out and changed everyone.

"Not yet 'Zelma," Éponine shook her head as she gently played with Azelma's auburn waves, "but soon-" Just then the truck came to a stop and the engine was turned off, others on the truck who had fallen asleep were waking up and people carrying lanterns came to the back of the truck and opened the latch and let them out. In the dim light Éponine could see the man who helped her down was blonde haired and blue eyed and very handsome, slowly her eyes adjusted to the light and she could see hundreds of refugees like herself. They were being directed in the direction of a harbor and she could see that there was a large ship, but it didn't look nearly large enough for all the people who were present, how was this going to work? She didn't have much time to think as there were many people pushing and shoving from many directions as they were being directed towards the ship. Slowly the boarding process began and each person was directed to a bunk where they were to remain.

"Éponine?"

Éponine turned to see a boy her age with dirty blonde hair and green eyes, "Andre is that really you?"

"Eponine!" The boy exclaimed and ran to her to embrace her, "I thought you had died! I didn't know where you and Marius went!"

"Could you please save your reunions once you have boarded the ship? We have a tight schedule," It was the handsome blonde man again.

Éponine looked at her feet and at her raggedy shoes that were slowly falling apart, on the plus side at least she had shoes now. Andre put his arm on her shoulder as he joined their group and the boarded together, they were given their bunks and they were all near each other and she was right it was a tight fit. About fifteen minutes later a few members of the crew came down to their deck in order to issue instructions to them.

"As you all know we are to be departing tonight," A man named Asher who had dark skin and unruly hair spoke, "and we have a number of rules to be enforced in order to maintain a safe passage to Palestine."

All the refugees clung to Asher's every word, some did not understand and so other crew members would repeat his directions in their native tongue.

"You must receive permission from me or a crew member before you go on to the uppermost deck, even if you need the bathroom or a drink of water," Asher explained, "we have two medics and a nurse on board if you need anything at all..." Asher paused for a moment, "ehh... That should be all, if you need anything don't be afraid to ask."

With that Asher and the crew left leaving the refugees to their own devices, Éponine settled into her bunk, she might as well make it comfortable this was to be a long voyage. But as she sorted through her belongings and happily removed the shoes from her feet her thoughts were still on that blonde man. Throughout all of Asher's speech she had been listening to him but her gaze was focused elsewhere, specifically the handsome volunteer, except she had noticed that the one standing next to him with the messy brown hair had caught her staring at him and smiled at her. Sighing Éponine shook her head and lay her head upon the thin pillow and wrapped herself in the blanket that was provided.

In their cabin Tony was sitting on Alex's bunk and was teasing him, "That little brown haired girl was eying you," he smiled, "and I have to admit she is rather cute."

"Tony, please don't tell me you are ogling the passengers," Alex sighed.

"What? All I said was that she's pretty, since when does that qualify as ogling?" Tony asked defensively.

Alex huffed, "Just stop."

"What?" Tony raised his eyebrows.

Alex glared at him, "These passengers are refugees, I highly doubt they will take to well to your flirting."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Well that doesn't mean we can't be friendly with them, it's not like we are on some pedestal above them."

"I know that," Alex looked at him.

"They could use a friend or two, you should try it," Tony got up from the bunk, he then reached into his case and fumbled around for a minute.

Alex sighed and leaned back on his bed, this was going to be a long and hard journey, not just for him but for everyone on board.


	2. Chapter 2

When Éponine awoke the next morning she was stiff from sleeping on the bunk, stretching, the blanket that covered her arm had fallen and she could see the number that had been penned into her arm, hastily she turned over as if she could escape it. On the bunk next to her, her sister Azelma slept, her red hair barely passing her chin, the same could be said for Éponine's unruly brown locks as well, it had been shaved off in the camp. Glancing around she tried to see if anyone else was awake. In the bunk above her where Gavroche slept he had not stirred and so she turned to see if Andre and Marius were awake, they were.

"Morning 'Ponine," Marius smiled at her.

"Good morning," Éponine replied speaking in a low voice.

"Sleep well?" Andre asked.

Éponine nodded her head and smiled, she was thankful that Andre and Marius were here with her it provided a sort of comfort to have friends, not that she had much else left.

"Did I ever show you what I managed to get?" Andre spoke excitedly.

"No," Éponine shook her head.

Searching through his rucksack he pulled out a notebook and pencils, "On my way here a man gave it to me, he used to be an artist he said," Andre began flipping it through the book, "and he said 'a budding artist such as yourself with out a sketchpad? Fore shame!'" Andre got to the page he was looking for, "so the first thing I drew was the two of you."

Éponine looked at the drawing of herself that Andre had done, in it was a girl she hadn't seen in nearly two years, this girl had healthy, long brown hair going down her back and a pretty dress. Today she had an uneven bob with a dress that barely clung to her thin frame, looking at the corner of the drawing she saw Andre's flourish of a signature, "Andre Feuilly" it read.

"Andre..." Éponine smiled, "it's beautiful."

"Keep it," Andre pressed it into her hands, "it's yours."

Éponine carefully put the drawing with her belongings and looked over at Marius who was looking at the drawing of himself. Then she heard the creak of the bed above her and Gavroche peered over the edge of the bed down at them.

"Morning sunshine," Éponine greeted him.

"'Ponine I'm twelve," Gavroche grumbled, "don't call me sunshine."

Éponine laughed, it seemed that on a somewhat full stomach and a good nights rest Gavroche was back to his sassy nature that always seemed to brighten her day.

Soon more and more people began to stir and wake up, her sister included, about a half hour later two of the volunteers came in, the blonde and the other one who had stood next to him the night before.

"My name is Tony, this is Alex," The one with the brown hair spoke, "we will be passing out food for all of you in just a minute, all we ask for is your cooperation and quiet please."

While Tony had been speaking his eyes fell on the girl he assumed Tony had been speaking of last night, the only reason he guessed this was because she was looking at him and when their gaze met she immediately looked away blushing. Alex wanted to roll his eyes, he got this reaction from many women, not that he really cared, it was really nothing more than a nuisance.

"Come on," Tony tapped him on the shoulder, "let's go get the food."

Éponine was confused, why did that man have such an effect on her? She was in love with Marius, not this other man, maybe when they got to Palestine she might be able to actually buck up the courage and tell him exactly how she felt.

"He seems so serious," Azelma spoke to Éponine.

"Who?"

"The blonde one, Alex?" Azelma commented with a slight shrug.

"Oh, I suppose so, doesn't seem to talk too much," Éponine replied, "but who am I to judge?"

The volunteers returned with small portions of food for the refugees, Éponine gladly accepted hers and happy that she was getting fed somewhat properly. Once they finished Éponine dusted the crumbs off the skirt of her dress, Gavroche sighed loudly.

"'Ponine, I'm bored, can't we go on deck?" Gavroche asked.

Éponine shook her head, "No we can't, you heard what Asher said."

"But why?" Gavroche complained.

Éponine wasn't really sure herself she knew their passage wasn't necessarily legal, after all they had no documents, "I think they are just trying to keep us safe," she gave him her best answer, which wasn't even that good.

Gavroche grumbled under his breath unhappily and flopped back down on his bunk staring at the ceiling.

Instead of leaving the volunteers had spread themselves amongst the refugees, probably to make them feel more comfortable, this included Tony and Alex.

"How about we have a chat with that pleasant looking bunch of kids over there?" Tony pointed to the group that included the girl with the brown hair, "seem to be speaking French just like we do."

Alex was about to protest but Tony grabbed his wrist and carefully navigated him through the bunks towards the teenagers, soon they were standing right next to them. It took a second but soon the young refugees stopped talking amongst themselves and were staring warily at the volunteers.

"Is something the matter?" Éponine asked.

Tony spoke first, "No, I just thought my friend and I could join into your conversation?"

The group silently looked around at each other, then Marius shifted on the bunk he was sitting on as did Andre, "please sit down if you would like," he offered.

Tony happily took the space by Marius while Alex sat next to Andre quietly.

"So you know are names, care to tell us yours? How about we start with you?" Tony pointed to Éponine who looked at him in surprise.

"Oh... I'm Éponine Thenardier," She gestured to herself then her gaze drifted to the upper bunk, "that's my brother Gav-"

"I'm Gavroche," The boy was smiling and peering down from the bunk.

"I'm Azelma," Azelma smiled shyly as she introduced herself and glanced at the two boys.

"Andre," he replied with a nod.

"I'm Marius," Marius smiled.

"Did you all travel here together?" Tony asked out of curiosity.

The group got silent for a bit but Éponine worked up the courage to speak to the volunteers, "Actually we've been together since the camps, Auschwitz, and then we marched together." She looked at her hands that were casually placed in her lap.

Alex was looking at her and on her forearm he could see a number imprinted into her skin, Éponine noticed he was staring and using her hand she quickly covered it up.

"Anyway, what brings you to the S.S Patria?" Tony spoke up in order to shatter the awkward silence, "someone waiting for all you young ones at the other end of this trip?"

The five of them shook their heads, "Our families are dead, we have nowhere else to go," Andre spoke.

Alex raised his eyebrows at Andre's words, of course they knew it was true, the Jews that were fleeing weren't being accepted anywhere, they weren't even being let into Palestine, many ships were continually turn around, refugees taken to detention camps in both Palestine and Cyprus, in worse cases they were sent back to Europe. Alex hoped that this group of young men and women knew that but was also afraid that he would destroy their hope if he told them, now was simply not the right moment.

Tony on the other hand was in a fix, while he was trying to be a friend to these teens he realized that whenever he spoke he kept seeming to bring up sore subjects like their homes and their families.

"So..." Tony began but no more words came from his lips.

"It's alright sir, we know it's difficult for you to understand," Andre added, "but we've accepted it long ago, we may not have real families but we do have each other."

"Cosette I need you!" Luc called, "fetch some aspirin, we have a woman here with a headache."

Cosette carefully moved through the group nearly tripping in the process, Marius quickly grabbed her arm to steady her, "are you alright Mademoiselle?"

Cosette blushed, "Yes, thank you, I must be going." The Red Cross nurse then smiled at Marius and quickly walked away to go and help Luc with a passenger, Marius stared after her.

"Marius... Are you alright?" Éponine asked with concern.

"What?" He asked in a dazed tone of voice, "Oh yeah... I'm fine," Marius smiled at Éponine in reassurance.

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That night Gavroche was extremely antsy and Éponine was tired, she just didn't know what to do with him, she was relieved to see Tony walk by with another volunteer she had met that day by the name of Jehan.

"Tony?" Éponine called to him.

"Yes, Éponine?" Tony stopped.

"It's dark out, could it be at all possible for me to take Gavroche out onto the deck? Just for a little bit at least?" Éponine begged.

Tony sighed, "I don't know Mademoiselle, but if you would like I can ask Asher."

"Would you please?" Éponine asked.

Tony smiled kindly, "Sure thing, I'll be back before you know it."

True to his work Tony returned, "You may go up with your brother for a short while and take in some fresh air."

Éponine smiled then turned to her sister, "'Zelma, would you like to come up too?"

Azelma who had been talking with the boys looked up, "Is it alright?"

"Sure thing," Tony smiled, "go on up."

Azelma smiled and followed her brother and sister through the lower deck, past a young man nursing a bottle of liquor he apparently had smuggled on board, he was singing an old drinking song to himself.

"Monsiuer Grantaire!" Cosette exclaimed as she walked past him, "well I do say I think you've had enough of this!" She took the bottle away from him and walked away.

Éponine ignored the exchange and just walked up the stairs onto the deck and breathed in the cold salty air. "Isn't this nice Gav?" she turned to her little brother, her brown eyes sparkled with a light that he thought had been extinguished.

He stretched and then started dashing around the deck pretending he was a pirate, even at the age of twelve he enjoyed seemingly childish games, perhaps it was because most of his childhood had been snatched away from him by the Nazis.

Éponine chose to look up and the night sky in an attempt to locate various constellations, "Look over there it's the big dipper!" She pointed into the heavens, "Azelma... Isn't it beautiful?"

Azelma smiled as well, "It sure is."


	3. Chapter 3

"_Get up now!" The Commandant shouted as a he came into the woman's barrack early in the morning, "up, up, all of you!" He continued._

_Éponine hastily got out of her bunk alongside her sister, she was slowly learning what the harsh words coming from the soldiers mouths meant, she turned to see her mother had still had yet to rise and was coughing something fierce. "Maman," she whispered to her, "get up, please get up, I'll help you." She grabbed her mothers arm and tried to raise her up._

"_What's this I see?" The commandant walked down the barracks towards Éponine and her mother, "the old woman won't get out of bed? Well we can't have ill workers can we?" he laughed cruelly, "Lieutenants," he addressed his colleagues who had come in with him, "you know what to do with these sort... Can't have the disease spreading."_

"_Yes Herr Commandant," One of the lieutenants replied and the two of them removed Madame Thenardier from her bunk, she could barely speak and was only coughing._

"_No, please don't take her!" Éponine cried out, "Please don't take her!" They were already guiding her mother out of the barrack._

"_Maman please! No, don't take her!" Éponine continued to shout, "Maman... Maman!" She began to cry hysterically, the commandant wasn't going to take any of this._

"_Silence! I've had enough!" He struck her and she fell to the ground, "French swine..." He muttered to himself as he walked out the door._

"_Maman! Maman!"_

"Maman..."

"Eponine," Azelma shook her sisters shoulder, she had been asleep but had been crying out, "Eponine wake up!" she spoke in quiet tones.

"'Zelma? Is everything alright?" Éponine asked blearily.

"You were crying out in your sleep," Azelma explained, "you were crying out for Maman."

Éponine knew that she was having a nightmare but had no idea that she was crying out, she immediately became embarrassed, "Did I wake anyone?" She asked.

Azelma shook her head, "No, just me."

Éponine sighed in relief, "I always think that maybe, just maybe the pain will go away, or that I'll wake up and realize it was all a bad dream..." She exhaled, "then I see my number, and I remember the pain... You aren't supposed to feel pain in your dreams."

She could distinctly remember being forced into a chair where they took down her name, country of origin and then carved the number into her arm. This was followed by another chair where all her hair had been removed, one of the steps of making her more like an animal, less like a human.

"It will be alright 'Ponine," Azelma comforted her.

Éponine laughed quietly, "Funny, it should be I comforting you, after all, I am the oldest."

Azelma shrugged, "Things change, but you should get some sleep, please."

Éponine sighed again, "I will," she then yawned loudly and her eyes started to flutter closed.

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Alex had not been sleeping well and he had heard the cries from his bed, they had to an extent woken them, and worried he woke Tony who was sleeping in the bunk above him.

"Tony, did you hear that?" Alex whispered.

"Wha?" Tony replied groggily, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Someone was crying out, I don't know who... But it sounds like they said 'Maman'..." Alex continued.

"Probably just a kid having a bad dream," Tony rolled over to face the wall, "and it doesn't sound like they are crying anymore so you should go back to sleep."

Alex grumbled as he sat upon his mattress, he hadn't even had the chance to tell Tony it couldn't have been a child for it certainly didn't sound like a child. But the crying had since stopped so Alex tried to not think about it and go back to sleep, after all Asher would not appreciate if he could not fulfill his duties as a volunteer on the account of a lack of sleep.

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Even though it was only their second day on the ship bound for Palestine Éponine was beginning to grow weary of the monotony that was accompanying it, like Gavroche she was bored and wanted to be outside, not shut away in a fashion that almost reminded her of the cattle cars they had been shoved on. More in more this place seemed to be stirring up more bad memories that she did not wish to think about, yet there they were right in her minds eye playing like a movie on a screen.

_Éponine could hardly move, the only way she was moving was with the help of Andre and Marius who were preventing her from falling behind and being shot,they had walked so far, from Auschwitz to wherever they were going now. She was ill, she felt like she was on fire and she was coughing violently, she didn't even notice when Marius and Andre pulled her into the car and Marius held her in his arms and began whispering in her ear._

"_You can't leave me 'Ponine," Marius began, "we've come too far, I need you, Azelma needs you, Gavroche needs you, we need you to be strong."_

_All Éponine could do was groan, she was in so much pain, she almost wished that a soldier would see her sorry state, take her from the car and shoot her, then it would all be gone._

"_Please 'Ponine," Marius continued, "please."_

Éponine snapped herself out of her daze and looked at Marius who had been given a spare piece of wood and with a pen knife was busy whittling. While watching him she couldn't help but wonder what he would look like if his hair was grown out, she already knew him to be very handsome despite that, but still she wondered.

Then she heard music playing, someone was playing the accordion and was singing songs in Yiddish, she did not know the language nor was she familiar with the songs but they made her smile as she listened. For awhile she became fixated on the and was simply content to cheerfully listen to the music as it played, it helped distract her at least.

"Éponine , I'm bored..." Gavroche complained again.

Éponine sighed, "Gav, you know I can't do anything, we aren't allowed on deck during the day and you know it."

"Yeah," Gavroche sighed as well, "I just hate being cooped up like this, I thought we were going to be free, to be-"

"Gavroche, stop," Éponine cut him off, "I don't want to ever hear you say something like that, we are going to be free, we are getting away, to a new life, a better life."

"But I miss home, Maman and Papa," Gavroche began.

Éponine stood up so that she could see onto his bunk, "Me too, but even if we could go back to Paris Maman and Papa won't be there, that can't change."

Gavroche bit his lip, "I just wish..."

"I know, I know," Éponine rubbed his back in a comforting manner.


	4. Chapter 4

Day five of their voyage and the five refugees were becoming more accepting of the friendship offered by Tony and the other volunteers. Éponine enjoyed talking with Tony and she knew that Gavroche enjoyed it very much when he was around as well, especially when he had convinced Asher to take him up on deck to meet the captain of the ship. Alex still remained quite unless questions or conversation was specifically directed at him, which in most cases it wasn't because Éponine didn't know what to say to him.

Marius was another story that was bothering her as well, ever since he prevented that nurse from falling over he kept trying to find a chance to speak with her again, it was as if he was in love with her and it hurt Éponine very much. They were supposed to be together, after all they had been through... Now it felt as if he was casting her off like a rag that meant nothing to him at all, he was the only one who understood her, understood the hurt and the pain, because they had suffered together. Who else would understand her the way he did?

"Good afternoon Mademoiselle 'Ponine," Tony greeted her as she walked around the corridor to stretch her legs a bit.

"Oh hello Tony," Éponine smiled and made a move to brush her short hair out of her face, it was so curly and at such an awkward length that it always was in her eyes.

"Would you like me to see if I could scrounge up some pins for that hair of yours?" Tony asked, that had not been his original line of discussion but he did notice that it seemed to be bothering her.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," Éponine shrugged, "is there someone who could perhaps spare a couple? Maybe for 'Zelma as well?"

"I'm sure Cosette wouldn't mind," Tony replied.

"Oh," Éponine frowned slightly.

"Is something the matter?" Tony asked, he then remembered how odd her friend Marius had been behaving as of late, especially around the aforementioned Red Cross nurse, "this has to do with your friend doesn't it, Marius?"

"How did you know?" Éponine's eyes widened slightly.

Tony smiled, "I see things, and that boy is gone, if I was you I would stop fretting about him and find some other nice boy."

Éponine sighed again, "But it's not that easy, Marius... Marius is the only one who understands me, he was there, we've been together through it all."

"So?" Tony folded his arms across his chest and leaned up against the wall, "I think you are just going to have to give someone else a chance or else you will be miserable for the rest of your life."

As he continued to speak Alex was quickly moving down the hallway, "Tony come on, they need us," he accidentally knocked into her and paused, "I'm sorry Mademoiselle."

Éponine smiled at him, he really was quiet handsome, "Oh it's alright, I shouldn't have been in your way." then turning her eyes down she quietly walked back to her bunk.

Alex and Tony remained in place, "Who is that you were talking with?" Alex asked.

Tony laughed and rolled his eyes, "Please tell me your joking with me."

"No I'm not," Alex replied with a frown, "who is that?"

"Éponine Thenardier, one of that small group of young French refugees, you've spoken with her before," Tony replied with the slightest tone of disbelief in his voice.

Alex remembered that group but he didn't remember her, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am," Tony nodded.

Something about the girl seemed different then every other time he had spoken to her and Alex tried to figure out why he was so confused. She was smiling, that was it, she was smiling and simple, easy and casual smile that he could see, it suited her nicely.

"She should smile more often," Alex muttered to himself.

"What was that you just said?" Tony pried with curiosity.

"I just said that she should- Never mind, it's not important," Alex shook his head, "now come on, we are needed in the radio room, they lost signal and are having trouble getting reconnected."

Éponine had noticed the way that Alex had been staring at her and it made her feel funny, it was strange that so soon after Tony telling her she needed to get over Marius another man had simply strolled (more like bumped) into her life. Perhaps there was more to this Alex Enjolras fellow then his dashing good looks that reminded her of a Hollywood star like the ones she saw on the silver screen.

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They had just regained connection to the radio and Alex did not like the news that was being transmitted to them, apparently the British were blockading the port in Haifa stronger then ever so it would be exceedingly difficult to get Patria in safely under their watch.

"We need to tell Asher, see if we can formulate some kind of plan..." Alex sighed, with this news Éponine was pushed into some far away corner of his mind.

Alex took the initiative while Tony finished helping the radio operator make sure that everything stayed in proper working condition.

"A blockade on Haifa?" Asher asked, his accent became prominent specifically when he spoke of places such as Tel Aviv, Haifa, Acco and the like. "That does change some plans, but what good is it being in the Palmach if you don't have friends in the Haganah?" Asher smiled, "we'll find away to get through, and if we can't..." Asher paused for a moment and sighed, "then we will have to fight, Patria will not go down without a good, strong fight."

Alex simply nodded, although he did have his concerns that he did not express, make the refugees fight? It seemed impossible and almost a cruel thing to do, would they really lay down their lives for a man and country they barely even knew? They would need to have a strong sense of faith, which he was sure they did, if they didn't would they have come as far as they did?

He inhaled deeply, he was concerned for all the refugees, but it was that band of teenagers that worried him the most, they had no one and nothing, admittedly he wasn't much older then they were but he still had a home and a family. He walked outside the radio operations room and walked over to where he knew them to be located, there she was sitting with her younger brother, and like before she was laughing and smiling with him, he was right, it really did suit her. He hastily shook his head, no, this was not of importance, the important fact was that they needed to get them all safely into Palestine and now that seemed jeopardized, who knew what came ahead of them.

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"Éponine?"Cosette approached Éponine who was sitting on her bunk, she was holding a comb and bobby pins, "Tony said that you were looking for some pins for your hair?"

Éponine looked up, "Oh I..." she had completely forgotten about that earlier part of her conversation with Tony, "I guess?" she shrugged.

Cosette looked at the refugees hair, it was very uneven, "If you would like I could fix that for you."

Éponine nervously touched her short hair, she wasn't sure she really wanted Cosette cutting her hair, "No, I think it's fine this way," she smiled at her nervously.

"Alright," Cosette replied, "let's see what we can do then, mind if I sit down?"

"Sure," Éponine slid over on the bunk making room for Cosette who began gently combing her curls and then pinning it so it wouldn't continually flop into her eyes.

"There, it's as simple as that," Cosette smiled.

Éponine returned the smile, "Thanks."

"If you don't mind me asking," Cosette spoke up, "how old are you?"

"Seventeen, but I'll be eighteen soon enough," Éponine replied, "what about you, you seem awful young to be a nurse," she did after all appear to be the same age as Éponine.

"I turned eighteen a few months back," Cosette explained, "and I'm not a nurse in the sense you are thinking, I'm just trained with basic first aid and they were in desperate need of volunteers so I said I would go."

"Very honorable of you," Éponine nodded.

Cosette continued to sit there for a moment, "One more question... How well do you know that boy, Marius?"

At the sound of his name Éponine's heart twinged a little, "We've been friends for awhile," she admitted, "he's very nice, why do you ask?"

"It's just that," Cosette blushed, "oh you are just going to think of me as a silly girl, never mind..."

"No, go on please," Éponine prodded the young nurse.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Cosette asked.

"I uhhh..." Éponine stammered as she thought about it, quickly she remembered when she smiled at Alex this morning, she had felt something but she wasn't sure what it was, after all, what about Marius? "I suppose?" she shrugged.

"I wouldn't normally," Cosette started, "but a few days ago I tripped and he helped keep me from falling," she continued, "there was just something in his face and my heart was whirring!"

Éponine's face twisted into a frown slightly, "Oh..."

"I can't help but wonder if he feels something too," Cosette smiled, "but I'm too nervous to ask him."

Now Éponine felt as if her heart had been crushed into a million pieces, she already had so much pain in her life, why was God delivering onto her another blow? She knew that Marius was interested in Cosette but just like her was too nervous to approach her as well, "I could ask him, that is if you wanted me to."

"What? No I could not ask you to do such a thing!" Cosette shook her head, "although he has tried to talk to me whenever I'm not busy... Oh maybe I'm just crazy!" she laughed.

"I wouldn't ask him directly," Éponine couldn't believe that she was telling this to Cosette, she wanted to be with Marius, but seeing Marius happy seemed that it would have to be enough happiness as opposed to having him for herself. "I have ways of skirting around things, I could probably get him to admit his deepest darkest secrets to me," she spoke laughing quietly.

Cosette bit her lip, "I suppose, when you put it that way... Then I wouldn't worry about making a fool of myself..."

"It would be no problem," Éponine still couldn't believe what she was saying, it was as if there were two different entities running her brain.

"Oh thank you 'Ponine!" Cosette grinned, "you don't mind if I am to call you 'Ponine do you?"

Éponine merely shook her head, "I guess not."

Cosette happily got off the bed and immediately went back to her nursing duties, as she left Éponine flopped back on her bed and groaned.

"'Ponine you are such an idiot!" she muttered to herself, "what the hell do you think you are doing?"

That night when they were sitting around the rations they had been given for their supper Éponine, despite the fact that it ached her heart to do so, told Marius all about Cosette.

"She does? Really?" Marius smiled.

Éponine tried to smiled but the corners of her mouth kept falling into a frown that Marius didn't seem to notice, he was so giddy and happy, she couldn't think of a time when he had been this cheerful before.

After she had finished her food she wanted to do nothing more then just go to sleep, she wasn't tired she was just tired of people, but Marius was busy rambling on about Cosette and about when he would speak to her, so Éponine got up and started to walk around for a bit, perhaps she could speak with Tony again.

After roaming between the beds and corridors for a bit she finally sat down in a small nook hidden away from the ship. She leaned her back against the wall, pulled her knees to her chest and sighed.

Alex happened to be walking down the hall and could see a pair of shoes sticking out from around he corner, "Hello?" he called and then looked around to see Éponine sitting on the ground, "are you alright?"

Éponine had closed her eyes but now had quickly opened them and blushed slightly, "I'm fine."

"May I ask why you are sitting on the floor then?" Alex asked, he got down on his knees so he would be more at her level.

"I had to get away from my friends for just a little bit," Éponine explained, "being in close quarters like this can be nerve wracking," she smiled slightly.

Unconsciously Alex did as well, "You look pretty when we smile," he spoke quietly.

Éponine's eyes widened, "What?"

Alex's face flushed, "Oh... I..."

"No it's alright," Éponine reassured him, "I'm just surprised is all."

"Please don't perceive me as being too forward, I don't know what I was thinking," Alex scratched the back of his neck as he spoke.

Éponine couldn't help but giggle at his nervous attitude, it was endearing, "That's alright, no one has really complimented me in a long time, it's nice to hear someone say something like that."

Now Alex was smiling feeling more comfortable around the girl, she was very pleasant and easy to talk to.

"You know what," Éponine spoke up, "you look nice when you smile too, you should do it more often."

At that the two of them were laughing happily when they were interrupted by Tony, "Now what are you two doing on the ground?" he asked grinning.

"Nothing," they replied simultaneously and Alex got up and offered Éponine a hand and helped her get up as well.

"Really, are you sure?" Tony asked with a smile, "because if you want I could give you two some 'alone time'."

They both were blushing hard, "Shut it Tony, nothing happened." Alex replied.

"I think I best be going," Éponine pushed her way between them and went to rejoin her siblings and friends.

"See what you've done?" Alex snapped, "you chased her away! We were having a nice conversation and you-"

"You were actually speaking with her?" Tony spoke with mock surprise, "I am agog and aghast!"

"She seems sweet, and she was sitting on the ground alone, I thought something was wrong," Alex shrugged, "it was nothing more then that," he then walked away from Tony.

"Sure it wasn't," Tony muttered to himself with a smile.

* * *

A/N: This was a long one wasn't it? Well I want to take the time to thank all my lovely reviewers and the many new followers who have taken an interest in this story.

iputonefootinfrontoftheother: Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying the story line!

Eponine T. Daae: I know it's said, this is probably the first really seriously dramatic fan fiction I've ever written, and the interactions will come as you have now seen :)

KenTomoInuKik: I like that you have faith in me, and I was very nervous with the idea of a new type of AU but so far the response has been great!

Allanna Stone: Thanks for the reviews and I'm glad you like the story!

Weeping-willows18: Thanks! The inspiration came from the most random of places but I guess that proves to be a good thing!


	5. Chapter 5

They were coming close to the end of their journey and as such there was excitement building amongst the refugees, especially Éponine, and Alex had become aware of how happy she had become as of late.

Since their first true conversation together she was the only one of the refugees on board that he had formed any sort of connection with, not that he minded, he did enjoy speaking with her.

"I can't believe it Palestine," Éponine smiled, "I wonder what it's like there... Have you ever been there?" she was looking out of a window at the Mediterranean sea and it's brilliant blue color.

Alex shook his head, "No I've never been there, but I hope it's everything you imagine it to be."

"Well that's sweet, but it certainly won't be Paris," Éponine sighed.

"So you'll miss France?" Alex asked, he was very curious to hear her opinions.

"Of course I will, it wasn't like I left by choice!" Éponine exclaimed, "I'm sorry," she sighed, "I didn't mean to snap like that, it's just you know..."

"Would you ever like to talk about it sometime?" Alex asked.

Éponine glanced at him with an odd look, "Believe me sir, you don't want to hear about the horrors I've seen."

From the way she was standing Alex could once again see the number on her arm, it took her longer then the last time for her to notice so he could almost make out the figures.

"No one should ever have to hear about those kind of things," Éponine sighed.

Alex knew she needed some sort of comfort so he gently laid his arm on her shoulder, "No one should have to live through what you've seen, you're very brave for doing something like that."

Éponine snorted, "Brave?"

"I can't think of anyone I know back home ready to risk everything to travel illegal to a country," Alex declared.

"Alright, but that doesn't make me brave," Éponine rolled her eyes.

"So that wasn't my best example, but you are unique, you traveled alongside your friends with no true plan or money, you've-"

"You don't know anything," Éponine responded coldly, "I did what I did in order to survive, we all did, we worked together to get where we are, I wouldn't be here without any of them."

Alex looked apologetic, "I'm sorry Mademoi-"

"Would you like a story?" Éponine's brown eyes grew dark, "I can tell you about when I had a fever as we marched Andre and Marius grabbed my arms to keep me walking even though I refused to go on, or how Azelma found a solider after we were liberated to help me when I was so weak I had been unconscious for over a day," she gauged his response, "I don't want your pity, I just want you to understand."

"I-" Alex's voice was caught in his throat.

"Alex! We need you now!" Tony shouted to him.

"I'm afraid I must be going," Alex stammered as he ran past her to Tony.

Éponine sighed and merely turned her gaze back to the ocean knowing that a new home was soon within her reach.

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"They've sent out some of their own ships, somehow we were found out," Asher explained to the crew and to the volunteers, "I don't want there to be distress amongst the passengers, but I'm afraid we will be taken."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Alex asked.

Asher exhaled, "We can try and fight, hold them off for a bit, take cans, bottles, garbage-"

"In other words it's hopeless," Alex cut back in.

Asher made an angry gesture with his hand, he sort of cupped his hand, pressing his thumb to the tips of his fingers and giving his wrist a sharp flick. "It is not hopeless an we are not going down without a fight-"

"How can you expect them to fight armed soldiers with nothing?" Alex snapped.

"Quiet!" Asher shouted, "your only concern should be that they don't panic."

Alex remained quiet but he wasn't happy, he was fuming with the situation at hand because all he could do was stand by and watch.

That night Asher spoke to the passengers alerting them to the situation at hand, the crowd remained silent as he spoke and even after they stayed relatively calm.

"So you're just handing us over to the Brits?" Another French refugee by the name of Benjamin Grantaire snarled, "we can't fight, we have no guns!"

"We will do the best we can," Asher replied to them, "just follow my orders, collect bottles, cans-"

"Garbage? You want as to fight them with garbage?" Grantaire shouted again.

"Silence!" Asher shouted at him, "unless you want to go to the hands of the Brits like sheep being led to slaughter, then we must fight."

"What do you know about being led to slaughter?" Éponine was the one who spoke up this time, all her friends stared at her in shock, "what do you know about having your family and friends taken away from you? Do you know what that's like?"

"Éponine sit down," Marius whispered to her.

"We had no choice, we had to do what they said or we would die!" Éponine continued to speak, she could feel tears springing to her eyes, "I know what it's like to be led to slaughter."

"So then you will understand that we need to fight," Asher tried to speak to her calmly.

Éponine shrugged, "If you can call it fighting, I feel you are just putting on a show with us, aren't you?"

Asher did not answer her question, "We will keep you posted on what occurs, but please do yourselves a favor and prepare yourselves, that is all."

Éponine did not sleep well that night, all she could think about was what lay ahead and it did not look good, she didn't like fighting, in her experience it did not end well. She remembered that not long after she arrived in the camp a revolt was staged and one of the crematoria was blown up in the process, those who had escaped in the process were soon caught and executed in front of the prisoners in order to make a statement. Trying to sleep she could here someone muttering nearby, she turned over to see her sister sitting on her bed knees pulled into her chest, Éponine soon realized she was praying.

"Shema yisrael Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai achad," Azelma muttered quietly.

Éponine wished she could do more to comfort her sister and was surprised that her sister still had that much faith in God.

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The next morning they could see that a British ship was quickly approaching them, so Asher with a sigh told all the passengers to collect their belongs and come onto the deck.

"You know what to do," he addressed them a final time, "when the time comes, fight back."

All they could do now was stand their as the ship steadily approached them, they were prepared to fight as well as they could but their forces were exceedingly weak compared to trained soldiers.

Éponine just stared and she held Azelma's hand tightly, and she had her arm wrapped protectively around Gavroche, whatever happened she was not going to be separated from them.

Someone started singing and she didn't know who, and the only time she had ever heard the song before was back in Auschwitz, but always in hushed voices. Éponine had learned the song for herself and she had to admit it made her feel hopeful and was grateful to whoever was singing and she joined their song.

"Kol od baleivav p'nima

nefesh y'hudi homiya

Ul-fa-atei mizrach kadima,

ayin l'tzion tzofiya

Od lo av'da tikvateinu,

hatikvah bat sh'not alpayim,

lih-yot am chofshi b'artzeinu

eretz Tzion Virushalayim."

By the time they reached the end of the song nearly all the refugees were singing with them, and Éponine turned to see Alex and the other volunteers staring at them in awe.

The ship was right on top of them now, so close that Éponine could pic out officers and soldiers who stood on the deck of the ship, they were preparing to board Patria so the fighting began. They threw everything that was available to them, and while it wasn't doing much as far as fending them off it did slow them down, she did as Asher asked and threw everything from potatoes to garbage, in the end they still were taken. The ship was commandeered into the port of Haifa and nothing more could be done, the refugees were forced from the ship and had their first experiences on Palestinian soil, Éponine was so joyful she could feel tears pouring down her face. Her happiness continued until she was grabbed by a British soldier and taken with the other refugees to prison while they decided what was to be done with them.

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Alex quickly started making inquires amongst the officers to find what would happen to them, quickly the consensus seemed to be they would either be sent to Cyprus or deported right back to Germany and wherever else they came from. The latter seemed to be the most favored opinion amongst the various officers he was speaking with.

"But you can't send them back! Where will they go?" Alex was speaking angrily with a Captain Bellows.

"It's not our problem," the sandy haired officer replied.

Alex sighed and then tried a different approach, "What if I decided that I would like to stay in Palestine?"

"Well that's a whole different matter," Captain Bellows replied, "because you are not a Jew, it is less of an issue and if you contacted the French embassy and made all the right arrangements and got the correct documents, you could stay here."

"But the refugees without anything can't?" Alex repeated.

"Jewish refugees," Captain Bellows stressed, "we don't want to end up putting up with an inevitable conflict that will arise if we let them-"

"I don't want to hear it," Alex held up his hand, turned on his heel and left the building, he was greeted by Tony who had been waiting for him outside.

"What did you find out?" Tony asked he had been ringing his hand anxiously.

Alex exhaled and shook his head, "It seems to be that they are going to be deported."

"What?" Tony's eyes grew wide, "deported? But, but-"

"I know, but we can't do anything," Alex spoke in a defeated tone.

"Are you sure?" Tony pressed.

"Unless Asher has something up his sleeve," Alex snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Well let's find out, this isn't like you to give up like this," Tony put his arm around his shoulder and they departed from the base in search for Asher.

When they found him at a bar not too far away from harbor they discovered that he did have a plan, it was a plan that neither Tony nor Alex liked one bit.

"We've got it all timed out and calculated properly, we won't let anything happen to them," Yitzhak tried to sound as reassuring as possible.

Alex was the first to speak, "You mean to tell me that with all your friends in the Haganah and the Palmach the best thing you can come up with is to blow up the ship? With the refugees on it? What if something goes wrong?"

"Which is why you need to trust me," Asher replied.

"Why should we? Why should they? You couldn't bring them to freedom and now on the threat of deportation they will be blown up?" Alex was getting progressively more upset, and all he could think about was Éponine. Young Éponine who had suffered so much yet she still had her whole life ahead of her, she didn't survive the camps in order to be blown up by one of her own.

Asher sighed, "We will have other transport for you and the rest of the volunteers to return-"

"I'm not concerned about myself," Alex cut him off.

"It's that girl isn't it?" Asher, "seen you with her quiet a bit."

Alex pressed his lips into a thin line, "There is nothing between me and Éponine, and I think I will be leaving now."

Alex and Tony returned to the Hotel that he and the rest of the volunteers were being put up in, they were all sitting in the lobby and conversing. And when Alex brought them the news of the refugees they went into a frenzy.

"The ship goes out in two days," Alex repeated the information he got from both Asher and the British officers.

"How could they do that," Luc shook his head, "all those innocent people."

"We should do something," Chris cut in, "protest at the harbor, do anything!"

Cosette was being comforted by Jehan, she was terrified for the fate of Marius who would be on that ship, something in Alex's heart seemed to move when he saw her crying, something that once again made him think of Éponine.

"You're right, it's not much but perhaps they might listen," Alex agreed although he doubted it immensely, even though he was angry at Asher he couldn't help but hope that he had something else planned to save the refugees.

* * *

A/N: So you are probably wondering what the weird words are that show up in the middle of the story... Well that first one, like I said is a prayer, and it is said everyday, and by some three times a day, it's called the Shema. The second is "Hatikvah" (The Hope) which is now Israel's national anthem, but it has been around before the creation of Israel as a Zionist song. Why do they look so funny? For the sake of my sanity and yours I'm not going to mess with inputting Hebrew letters, believe me it is easier this way. This is transliteration, otherwise known as writing it out for the most part phonetically in English.


	6. Chapter 6

Sadly Éponine, her siblings, friends, and the rest o the refugees were escorted back onto Patria and were to be taken back to Europe, her heart broke as she saw the sad faces of all the volunteers who had helped bring them there, they stood on the harbor and watched them board. What Éponine didn't know was that the reason for their grim faces was due to more then the fact they were being deported, it was due to the fact that deep in the hull of the ship there were explosives set to go off not long after they left the harbor. Outside the harbor (which surprised Alex initially) the people of Haifa had gathered and were shouting loud and angry protests that were better then the attempts that were being made Alex and the rest of the volunteers.

Leaving their only suitcase in the hands of Azelma she went down to where the bunks still sat and removed a picture she had kept with her since she left Paris. It was taken the summer of 1936 when they took a trip to Marseilles and vacationed along the beach, it was Éponine and Azelma standing with their smiling father and their mother off to the side holding Gavroche's hand. The picture was worn, bent and had been folded into quarters, she looked at it and shook her head.

"I tried Papa, I tried," Éponine whispered to the picture and pressed it to her lips before folding it back up and sticking it back into her dress. She stayed on the bunk while others settled in around her but none of them were people she knew. She had already heard the horn from the ship and knew they were headed back to sea, she could also hear the thrumming of the engine that she had gotten used to over her journey, they must have been traveling for fifteen minutes. Éponine decide to take a little more time to herself before she returned to the deck to be with her friends, she was wandering the corridors when it happened.

The explosives went off but on a march larger scale then expected ripping a huge hole into the side of the ship and water was filling in rapidly.

The sound of the explosions and the shocks that shook the entirety of the ship sent the refugees into a huge panic, Éponine was knocked into the wall and immediately ran out of the corridors to see everyone rushing about and pushing to go up the stairs. All of a sudden her feet felt very cold, she looked down to see that water was coming through the floor and from the lowest parts of the ship and it was rapidly rising. Her heart beat quickened as she watched the people flee to the upper deck so that they could get to the life rafts and depart the quickly sinking ship. Knowing that if she pushed it would just make matters worse so she stood back helplessly and watched and waited till the stairs cleared out, by that time the water was nearing knee level, she quickly started to run when something caught her eye. There was a man sitting on a bunk and he wasn't moving, he was just sitting there watching the water rise, it was Benjamin Grantaire.

"What are you doing?" Éponine called to him.

"Dying, or waiting to," Benjamin replied non-nonchalantly.

"Are you crazy?" Éponine shouted.

"No, I just don't want to survive just be sent back to France," Benjamin continued in his same calm manner.

Éponine didn't know what to do, the water was reaching knee level and was wetting the hem of her dress, "So you're just going to sit here and die?"

"That's the plan," Benjamin nodded his head.

If the water had not been rising so fast Éponine would have stayed longer to try and convince him to not do such a thing but she didn't want to risk her life in the process. "Fine then, I'll leave you here, since that's what you want," she began walking away from him as fast as she could sloshing through the thigh high water. She had almost reached the stairs and she could hear the ship groaning as the metal bent under the water pressure, pressing on she kept walking when the hinges on one of the doors that was shut snapped sending in a large rush of water. The level was so high that Éponine could not touch the ground and she was soaked from head to toe and she sputtered and coughed and tried desperately to swim to the stairs.

Someone grabbed her from under the water and dragged her towards the stairs, when they came up for air she saw it was Benjamin, together they latched onto the stairs and started running towards the deck.

"I thought you wanted to die," Éponine panted.

"I did," Benjamin coughed, "but that doesn't mean you need to go down with me, let's get you out of here."

At this point the deck was deserted, they had just lowered the last life boat that was reachable seeing as the rest were underwater, "Now what?" Éponine looked at Benjamin with wide eyes.

Benjamin looked around, "See that over there?" he pointed to a boat that clearly still had space for the two of them, "we are going for a swim, come on," he grabbed her hand and took off running the two of them then jumped into the cold waters of the Mediterranean.

With his help and much effort Éponine reached the boat and the two of them were brought on board, at this point the ship was completely submerged. Éponine looked around the boat, her siblings were not there and neither were Andre and Marius. Éponine sat down in the boat and extracted the picture, or at least what was left of it, the photo disintegrated in her hand and she felt her heart break, that was the only picture that remained of her parents.

They hadn't been too far out to sea so it didn't take much time to return to the harbor, and a boat that was much closer to the harbor came back first, Azelma hastily ran to the volunteers. "Have you seen my sister? Has she come back yet?" Azelma asked all of them, desperate to know where her sister was.

Alex looked at her wide eyed, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Azelma hiccuped, "she was below deck when the ship exploded," she was shaking with fear as she spoke.

Marius came up to the young girl and put his arm around her, "It'll be alright 'Zelma, she'll be here, she's probably on a different boat."

"But what if she isn't Marius? What do we do then?" Azelma looked at him with red rimmed eyes, "what will I do without 'Ponine?"

"'Zelma, please listen, 'Ponine will be fine," Marius continued even though in his heart he questioned his friend's fate.

"Marius? Is that you?" Cosette ran to him with a look of relief, "oh thank heavens you are alive!"

Marius was just as happy to see her and when she embraced him he took the chance at the same time to kiss her as well.

Azelma tried to calm herself, she then walked with Gavroche to look at the sea and wait to see if the eldest Thenardier would appear.

A half hour later Éponine and Benjamin's boat came to shore, Éponine knew they must be looking for her so she ran down the pier towards the large crowd of refugees. "'Zelma! Gavroche!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran, she wind blowing caused her to shiver because her clothing was still soaked through.

"'Zelma! Gavroche!" Éponine continued to shout.

"Éponine?" Azelma looked around for her sister, she saw her running towards her, "'Ponine!" she ran towards her sister and they embraced, when they broke apart she laughed, "you're soaked, what happened to you?"

"I was on the lower deck when it happened," Éponine explained, "I was stuck down there trying to get through and in the end... He saved me," she smiled at Benjamin who had been standing nearby.

"Oh thank you sir!" Azelma embraced Benjamin completely catching him off guard.

"Thank God you're alright," Marius took his turn to embrace her.

The happiness of their reunion was cut short when they British officers came out and rounded up the refugees once more to be placed in prison.

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That night Alex tried once again to find out what they were going to do with the refugees that had survived the explosion, he went back to Captain Bellows, "so what's going to happen to them now?"

"Why are you so interested?" Captain Bellows sighed, "why do you care so much?"

"That is not your business," Alex replied, "now tell me, what's going to happen to the refugees?"

"Seeing as we have no ships to spare to deport them," Captain Bellows replied as he started going through his files, "and no space in any of the camps in Cyprus... The plans are that they will be taken to Atlit."

"Atlit, what's that?" Alex asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Detention camp, a half an hour outside of here," Bellows replied coolly.

"What do you mean detention camp?" Alex continued to press, he didn't like the sound of that.

"We will detain them until other arrangements can be made," the officer replied, "it's quiet simple really."

Alex was fuming on the inside but he did not let it show, he wanted to tell Bellows that these people had just been released from camps, and yet they dared to put them right back in them, but he kept quiet. He sighed, "Very well then, thank you for sparing your time to speak with me."

"Yes, Mr. Enjolras," Bellows nodded, "have a good day."


	7. Chapter 7

The officers had required that they remove their clothes and take a shower before they entered the camp, "disinfection" they had called it. Éponine, like many of the others was reluctant to do so at first, simply because the tales she had been told. She knew her parents had been gassed in the camps and it wasn't until they were on the death march when she heard a Sonderkommando talking about the process of stripping the prisoners bare and telling them they were only taking a shower.

Éponine was frightened and she refused to move, so a kind officer tried convincing her with chocolates, still reluctant and not wanting to be considered a fool Éponine continued to refuse.

"Please dear?" The officer spoke, "we won't hurt you."

Éponine gulped and looked at the woman's face, she didn't seem particularly harsh or cruel, finally she relented and removed her dress and joined the other women in line for the shower. As soon as it was her turn and she stepped under the cold stream of water goosebumps were raised all over her skin but she did feel much better.

She was handed a thin towel and she waited until they gave her back her clothing which she happily and quickly donned and left the building and was directed to the women's side of the camp. As they walked to a barrack Éponine was certain this place was going to give her nightmares, it looked too similar, it reminded her too much of Auschwitz and to a degree she was frightened. Her fears were only slightly reduced when she walked into the barrack and instead of bunks jam packed everyone had their own bed with blankets, she and Azelma sat down at two empty beds close to the back and noticed two girls were looking at them.

"No it can't be," The girl with red hair whispered in French to the blonde one, they looked similar enough to be sisters, perhaps they were.

"Are you sure?" The blonde whispered back.

Éponine could hear their whispering and turned around to face the girls who immediately stopped whispering and they blushed.

"We're sorry," the blonde girl replied, "it's just that you two remind us of some friend's we had."

Before Éponine replied she examined the two girls, there was something about them that was familiar but she couldn't place it, "You two wouldn't happen to be from Paris, would you?"

"Yes, we are!" The red head cut in, her hair was an even more vibrant shade then Azelma's, "but we haven't been there in a long time, you see a long time ago are parents thought we would be better off with our Aunt in Switzerland."

Then it clicked, Éponine's eyes widened in shock and a smile played at her lips, "Bella and 'Chetta?"

It was then the two girls smiled brightly, "'Ponine and 'Zelma!" the one called 'Chetta exclaimed, I knew it had to be you!"

The two girls got off of their own beds and set with Éponine and Azelma, "how on earth did you end up here of all places?" 'Chetta began again, "where's your mother?"

The Thenardier girls remained silent, "She's dead," Éponine replied, her head down.

'Chetta's eyes widened as she put her arms around the girl, "oh 'Ponine..."

Éponine couldn't help but be comforted by 'Chetta's embrace, she also was very happy to see her, "it's alright, but how did you get here?"

"Well Bella and I were trying to find our parents, we found out they were taken to the camps and that was the last anyone heard," Bella explained, "so instead of staying in Switzerland we decided to come here."

"I always wondered why you two went away," Éponine turned to her, "I missed going down the street to your house."

"And I missed going to you," 'Chetta smiled, "your mother would always have something in the oven!"

Éponine laughed, "Yes she did," she smiled fondly at the memory.

"It's really great to see you two," Bella grinned, "I never thought that I would see you again."

"Yeah," Azelma snorted, "all it took was for the world to go to war for us to meet again."

"I see 'Zelma is not as shy as she used to be," 'Chetta giggled, this caused Azelma to turn pink.

"Well why don't you let us take you around the camp? Besides soon we can meet with everyone on the promenade," Bella decided.

"You mean we don't have to stay separated?" Éponine raised her eyebrows.

"No," Bella shook her head, "in the afternoon we always get time to see the men."

This pleased Éponine, it was another bit of proof that Atlit was not going to be like a second round at Auschwitz.

The four girls walked out of the bunker together, "So you never told us how you ended up here," Bella asked, "what happened?"

Azelma looked at Éponine with sad eyes, she couldn't bear to have the words leave her own mouth and turned to her older sister for help.

"We were taken, to the camps in Poland," Éponine as usual she rubbed her left forearm, "those death camps, it was awful Bella, simply awful..." She did not elaborate on the subject anymore to the sisters.

Realizing it was probably best for them not to pry they simply showed the Thenardiers around Atlit and at the end of it all walked them over to what was known as the promenade. It was basically a road that went right down the middle of the camp, each side of it was lined with trees and it was very pleasant looking. It was there they waited, they waited to see Marius, Andre and Gavroche.

Soon the boys appeared amongst the men and they quickly ran to them with 'Chetta and Bella trailing behind them, "Oh thank god!" Éponine exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Gavroche, Andre and then Marius.

Marius laughed a little but he could understand her worry about the camp, there was something odd about it, something he didn't like, there was too many similarities.

"It's good to see you two 'Ponine," Marius smiled at her, "but we have only been apart for merely hours."

"I know," Éponine turned slightly pink, "it's just I was so worried."

"Who are these friends of yours?" Andre asked.

'Chetta had been looking at Gavroche, "is this your little brother? Little Gav?"

Gavroche cocked his head in confusion, "'Ponine, who are they?"

Éponine turned to her little brother, "these are my friends Musichetta and Mirabella Latour, they used to live down the street from us in Paris," she explained.

"Pleased to meet you Mesdemoiselles," Andre gave a slight bow, "I'm sure any friend of 'Ponine's is a friend of ours."

Musichetta smiled, "We had not seen her in a long time, many years I think perhaps we were eleven?"

Éponine shrugged, "I don't know."

"Anyway we've been here at Atlit for awhile," Mirabella cut in, "and we decided to show 'Ponine and 'Zelma the ropes, you have a lot to learn! Oh you are just going to love learning Hebrew!"

"Hebrew?" Éponine raised an eyebrow, to her Hebrew was nothing more then a language meant for prayer, "but how?"

"We have teachers," Musichetta explained, "after all what did you think they spoke in this country?"

Éponine blushed a little because she was unsure how to respond to her friend, instead the conversation was turned around and they all chatted together happily until they were out of time and had to return to their respective sides of the camp.

"I know it's a bloody pain that we are separated," Musichetta rolled her eyes, "but life here isn't awful, it can be a trifle dull," she shrugged, "but we get fed, we learn things, and one day, hopefully soon, we can get out of here."

Éponine smiled only slightly at that, although when they had their supper she realized it had been one of the best meals she had in a long while, despite small portions, but she could live with that easily. What she couldn't live with were the nightmares she was sure this place was going to give her, as she went to bed that night her mind was whirring, she did not want to close her eyes and let sleep take over because she was so afraid, yet it happened and the nightmares accompanied it.

This nightmare wasn't like the previous ones, she didn't relive memories of Auschwitz or the march, or even of the explosion on the ship, this nightmare started off seemingly harmless enough.

_Éponine smiled as she put on her favorite record, carefully placing the needle onto the vinyl making sure she did not scratch it, it was an American piece, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, "In the Mood." The song was swinging and it had good rhythm and she immediately began dancing around to the music, she had even taken her shoes off and was just sliding around in her socks to the amusement of her younger siblings. She had always loved dancing, and she knew that she was good at it and she wasn't one to hide her talents. She winked at Azelma who was watching her as she sat on the couch with her hands folded in her lap, "Come on 'Zelma, dance with me!" she grabbed her sister off the couch and spun her around._

_Azelma yelped in surprise but relented to her sister, she liked dancing as well but was no where nearly as good as Éponine was, she kept fumbling as she tried to keep up with her._

_Gavroche simply sat on the couch and laugh, he was quiet young at this time considering that Éponine herself was only fourteen and Azelma just thirteen._

_When the record finally reached it's end Éponine spun Azelma one last time and guided her into a dip so low it seemed she would drop her younger sister to the ground, they both were panting, their cheeks pink with exertion. Éponine pulled Azelma back up from the dip and they both sat down on the couch giggling as they did so, Gavroche was clapping his hands excitedly._

"_You like that Gav?" Éponine smiled at her younger brother._

"_You were fantastic!" Gavroche exclaimed as he clapped._

"_That was very nice girls," Their father smiled at them as he lay down his evening paper, "you both have some real talent."_

_Éponine blushed, "Thank you Papa."_

"_It's dinner!" Their mother called to them, so the whole family went to the kitchen for their meal._

_The scene then changed, it was late at night and Éponine was asleep in her bed that was next to Azelma's in the room that they shared for as long as she could remember. There was a harsh knock at the door waking both girls, "What was that?"_

"_I don't know," Éponine whispered back to their sister, quietly she tiptoed out of her room to see her father standing at the door talking to two soldiers._

"_Wake your family, quickly, you may take only a blanket and two sets of clothes each, now hurry," the soldier ordered. _

_Once again this scene dissolved and she found herself jam packed on a bus not knowing where she was going, and when it finally came to a stop and they all were let out all she could see were buildings that looked unfinished, it didn't make sense._

"_Papa, what's going on?" She whispered to her father as she held his hand._

"_I don't know 'Ponine," her father put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, "but we must stay together."_

_The scene changed one last time, this time they were getting off a train, more specifically a cattle car and finally truly seeing daylight, it had been a little more then a year since this whole ordeal began and they hadn't truly been apart, until know. The soldiers were forcing them into two lines, men to one side, women to the other, Éponine was afraid to fight them despite what her father said about staying together. This marked the last moments that the Thenardier family would remain whole, because as soon as her father and Gavroche were taken to one side and she to another she could feel they would never be together again._

When Éponine awoke she was not covered in sweat or really afraid, but her heart beat fast and was slamming against her rib cage, she put her hand to her chest and started breathing in and out slowly. It had all seemed so really and vivid, she could hear all the noise clearly and smell everything and taste everything, her dreams had never been anything like that before. She was very confused and she wanted to wake her sister or one of their friends but discovered that they were still asleep, with a sigh she lay back down in bed and tried to sleep for a couple more hours.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So I kinda forgot I had another character that was supposed to have the name Yitzhak, so now Yitzhak's name is Asher, and in this chapter you will be meeting the real Yitzhak!

* * *

Outside the fence that surrounded Atlit Alex was hard at work, he had made it clear that he wanted those refugees out of there, not just the ones brought over on Patria, but the others that were there as well. It would not be an easy task, and still at the time he had no clue as to exactly how he was going to go about doing just that.

"Tony I'm stuck," Alex put his head in his hands, "it's not right to keep them locked up like that, like, like animals... And after what she's been through..."

Tony looked at him in surprise and put down his drink, "After what she's been through?"

Alex had not realized what he said, "They, I meant they, Christ..."

"Still brooding over the refugees?" Chris joined them.

"Well don't you think we should do something about it?" Alex turned to him, his blue eyes appeared to be on fire.

"Of course," Chris replied, "but we have no plan, no people, and we don't know anything about that place or the British forces!"

"Are you all still going at it again?" Asher entered with another man by his side, "I figured I could find you all here, because I have a proposition."

Alex looked at the two men warily, "What kind of proposition?"

"One to get those refugees out of the camp," Asher smiled, "and we all know how much you want that."

Alex pressed his lips into a thin line but he did not respond to Asher's words.

"The plan involves my friend here," Asher clapped the man on the shoulder, "this is Yitzhak Rabin, he will be heading our breakout of Atlit."

Alex held out his hand to Yitzhak who gave it a hardy shake, "So what are you going to do."

"Simple, really," Yitzhak nodded, his accent was rather thick, "we've already begun in fact."

"What?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"We have already infiltrated Atlit with some volunteers, they are French like yourselves, possibly friends of yours?" Yitzhak began, "They were two young medics and a nurse, they offered there services at the camp which is already understaffed."

Alex immediately recognized that to be the descriptions of Luc Combeferre, Laurent Joly, and Cosette Fauchlevent.

"They will be gathering information to pass along to us, and keep tabs on the refugees," Yitzhak continued, "also we have other men, posing as teachers who will be doing more work for us as well, preparing the refugees."

So far the plan was more solid then anything that Alex had been able to envision, it seemed that he was going to have to admit defeat and follow the orders of Asher and Yitzhak.

"Very well, so where do we come into the picture?" Alex asked.

"The downside is that you are untrained," Asher replied.

"Untrained? What do you call yourselves?" Alex snapped.

"Despite being an underground movement we have all trained to reach the positions we both hold," Asher replied his temper rising, "I serve in the Palmach, the best of the Haganah! Who are you? Silly French students who simply wanted to help the war effort."

Alex clenched his hand into a fist, there was no use fighting with them, "Alright, so we are untrained, do you need us or not?"

"We do need you, specifically after we break out," Yitzhak explained, "we need to keep the refugees contained, under control, a good portion of them already trust you, we are banking on that."

"Very well," Alex nodded, "but what do we do till then?"

"If you wanted to you can always go to them camp and see what's going on, but we have plenty of people working for us from the inside," Yitzhak explained, "we'll let you know if anything else occurs."

Asher smiled knowingly at Alex and then whispered to him, "Don't worry we'll get you to your girl soon enough."

Inside Atlit things were quite, despite her continuing nightmares Éponine enjoyed being with her friends, she had also learned how to sew and had made new clothing for herself, Azelma, and Gavroche. But she was worried for Marius, he had been developing a cough lately and it did not seem to be getting any better, so it did nothing to ease her worries when she saw only Andre and Gavroche one day.

Éponine looked around and soon spotted Andre's blonde hair and the messy brown head of Gavroche, but Marius and his freckled skin was no where in sight. "Where is Marius?" Éponine asked as she approached Andre.

Andre lowered his head, "Marius... Marius is in the infirmary."

"What?!" Éponine exclaimed.

"He'll be alright, but that cough," Andre was getting more nervous as he spoke, "they think he might have TB."

Éponine's heart felt as if it had stopped, she had seen people die of all sorts of disease, the flu, typhus, TB, she did not want that fate to befall Marius, "How can you say he's alright if he has Tuberculosis?"

"He's in the care of the doctors and nurses here, they can treat him," Andre put a comforting arm on her shoulder, "besides I think I know something that might make you feel better."

Éponine looked at her friend with hope, "What is it?"

"I found some of the volunteers here when I took Marius in to the doctors," Andre smiled, "the two medics from Patria and that nurse... What's her name?"

"Cosette?" Éponine frowned, "how is that supposed to make me feel better?" she sighed.

Andre had almost forgotten the feelings Éponine harbored for Marius, "You still haven't gotten over that have you?"

"How can I?" Éponine snapped, "we were supposed to be together, we've been through hell and back and I can't think of anyone else who understands me the way Marius does."

"There's always me," Andre tried to smile.

Éponine shook her head, "You, you are just like an older brother, trying to keep me in line-"

"No one can do that."

"Always trying to raise my spirits, I'm sure there as someone out there for you Andre, but it's not me, can't you see that?" Éponine finished.

"I never meant that, what I mean is that you can always talk to me," Andre replied.

Éponine smiled and laughed slightly at his comment, "So are you sure Marius will be alright?"

"He's going to be just fine, they'll get him medicine, he'll rest for awhile, he's going to be okay," Andre reassured her, "trust me on this one."

Éponine still remained unsure, but there was nothing else that she could do, surely Marius would get better, he had to.

Their time together ended and Éponine said her goodbyes to Andre and Gavroche and returned to the womens side of the camp, from where she was she could see the gate of the camp. She stopped and stared, four men were entering, they weren't soldiers and she was sure that she knew them, "'Zelma look!" she pointed to her younger sister.

Azelma's gaze followed her sister's finger, "Is that-"

"I think so," Éponine nodded, "I wonder what they are doing here?"

Alex entered the camp with Tony, Jehan and Chris, it was all under the guise that they were to provide extra hands to the staff at Atlit, of course they would be doing that but Alex really wanted to make sure Éponine was alright. As he entered the camp and passed through the gate he could see that it was divided into two sides and that someone from the womens side seemed to be watching them, it looked an awful lot like Éponine, but there was something different about her. She wasn't wearing the dark red dress that she had been wearing throughout the voyage to Palestine, instead it was a simple white frock that went to her knees, she looked almost angelic.

"What are you staring at?" Tony came up behind him and then he saw her too, "wow, she looks really good."

Alex glared at Tony but realized that he only meant well, she did look good, then she started walking towards him.

"'Ponine, where are you going?" Azelma asked as he sister started walking away, "'Ponine?" she then simply let her sister walk away.

"What are you doing here?" Éponine asked when she approached them, "how did they let you in?"

"We've come here as volunteers in the camp," Jehan answered to her.

"Really?" Éponine raised an eyebrow and folded her skinny arms across her chest.

"How are you doing?" Tony asked.

"I'm alright, we've been doing well my siblings and my friends," Éponine responded, she wasn't about to tell them of Marius' illness.

"It's a nice dress you've got there," Tony nodded at what she was wearing.

Éponine blushed slightly, "I made it myself, I had to throw out the other one, it was falling apart, I've been learning to sew... Shouldn't you go and speak with the officers? Find out what your jobs are? After all I don't think I'm going anywhere anytime soon."

Then men nodded in agreement, it could be seen as suspicious if they were seen talking to her, and they all departed to speak with the Colonel who was to be in charge of Atlit to discuss their duties.

Éponine watched as they walked away and then turned around to rejoin her sister back in their barrack that was at this point their home. When they got back Musichetta and Mirabella were already there waiting for them, "you saw your boys today?" Mirabella asked.

"I saw Andre and Gavroche," Éponine replied.

"Not the other one?" Musichetta asked, "Marius?"

Éponine shook her head, "They put him in the infirmary."

The Latour sisters gasped, "Whatever for?" Mirabella asked.

"They think he has TB," Éponine replied shakily.

Mirabella sat her down on her bed, "Don't worry he'll be alright, I'm sure of it."

"I hope you are right," Éponine sighed, then she remembered who else she had seen, "Some of the volunteers from the ship we came with, they are going to work here."

"Really?" Mirabella's ears peaked with interest, after all her sister had her sights set on one of the new medics who had started working there earlier in the week.

"Oh Bella hush," Musichetta swatted at her, "remember what Maman and Tante Sylvie would tell us?"

Mirabella sighed, "Yes, yes, 'Bella and 'Chetta my loves, you need to find a nice Jewish boy to settle down with!' Ha! As if they could think I would settle down."

Éponine laughed at her friend, thinking about it now she realized that in an odd sort of way Bella reminded her of Tony, perhaps it was her bright and lively nature? But who was she to judge, after all she hardly knew Tony Courfeyrac, he was just one man who had shown a young refugee kindness.

"Well we'll probably see them about," Éponine shrugged, "after all they are volunteers."

Mirabella smiled and twirled her brilliant red hair, "yes, and they are French, non? Not like those American and Brits we see running about the place."

"Yes Bella, they're French," Éponine shook her head with a laugh.

"Good," Bella smiled.

The volunteers had been given their jobs, the list was all over the place, basically they were to stand by and wait until they were needed, and were given a chance to wander the camp and help out. They inquired on what the policy was when interacting with the refugees and it was surprisingly lax, the first thing they did was they visited the infirmary. When Alex first arrived he noticed Cosette first sitting by the bed of a patient but she seemed very distressed, as he approached closer he soon realized why, it was Marius who was in the bed, the same boy she had fallen in love with during the passage.

Alex didn't know how to respond, Tony put his arm on his shoulder, "Poor kid," he whispered.

Alex shook his head, "It's funny that we talk about them like that, they've been through so much, I could hardly call them children."

Tony looked at his friend in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"Do you know how old they are?" Alex asked, the only reason he knew was because Éponine had told him.

Tony shook his head, "No I don't, but I suppose you are going to tell me aren't you?"

"Marius over there is nineteen, so is his friend Andre, and Éponine is seventeen," Alex told him.

"I was joking-"

"What were we doing at their age?" Alex asked.

Tony didn't know how to reply, "I suppose we were in school, we still go to the university... I mean we just celebrated your twentieth birthday."

"Puts everything into perspective doesn't it?" Alex turned to him, "They were suffering to immense degrees, do you know about the things 'Ponine told me about?"

"'Ponine? Since when does she have a nickna-"

"Please stop interrupting me and listen," Alex continued, "did she ever tell you? Have you ever noticed that she has a number tattooed on her arm?"

Tony shook his head and his gaze flicked to Marius' bed and the hand Cosette has holding, and there it was, he had a number on his forearm, something Tony hadn't noticed until then.

"Like prisoners..." Tony whispered.

They started to walk down the ward when Cosette looked up at them, "You're Tony and Alex, right?" she called to them.

"Yes, we are," Alex replied.

Cosette got up and straightened out the nurses cap on her head, "Did you recognize him?" she asked about Marius.

Alex nodded as a form of reply, "How is he?"

"He is suffering from a mild case of TB, but he should be alright, they've started him on penicillin among other things," Cosette sighed, "I must seem very frazzled," she shook her head, "so many patients, now if you excuse me I should get back to my rounds."

Alex and Tony walked through the infirmary and then over to the promenade where he saw on the womens side Éponine in her white dress amongst the company of three other girls, one he immediately recognized as being her younger sister Azelma.

"You know I have to ask," Tony had seen her as well, "what's with the sudden interest in Éponine? You've never cared about a woman besides your mother in all the years I've known you, then she comes into her life and you are acting as if you are her guardian angel." Tony began to laugh, "Could you perhaps have fallen in love with her? You know your father won't approve of you marrying a Jew-"

"Antoine," Alex snapped, he never used Tony's full name, "I'm not in love with her, and you know I could careless about what my father thinks about me and my actions."

Tony was still smiling to himself, "Whatever you say, I still think that you like her," he winked, "I mean look at her! Like I said before, she's pretty, maybe she doesn't wow you, but she certainly is pretty."

Alex spared the girl another glance, she was laughing and smiling, two things that he loved about her... Quickly he shook his head, he didn't love Éponine, how could he? He barely knew her! Then again... Why did she have this affect on him?

Éponine then looked at him and smiled, "Alex?" she called.

"Well are you going to fly to her side, loverboy?" Tony smirked.

"Shut up," Alex murmured to him but he did go around the fence and enter the womens side to speak with her, Tony followed him.

"Hello Éponine," Alex greeted her.

"Hello," Éponine replied to him.

"Hello sir," One of Éponine's friends smiled at him, she had large green eyes and blonde hair, the other girl seemed to be more interested in Tony.

"Hello Mademoiselle," Alex nodded, "what is your name?"

"Musichetta," the girl bobbed her head and then tapped the other girl's shoulder, "and this is my sister Mirabella."

"Hello," Mirabella replied.

Tony was smiling at Mirabella who was blushing, "Hello."

"Are you friends of 'Ponine?" Musichetta asked.

"Not really," Alex shook his head, "we were simply volunteers on the ship she came here with..." He noticed a hurt look that marred Éponine's face.

Sure they weren't the best of friends but he had been friendly with her, Éponine's heart twinged and she didn't know why, surely she didn't care about Alex in that way, but then why did his remark hurt her so?

"Oh..." Musichetta replied, "I just figured, you seem, well-"

"'Chetta stop," Mirabella whispered to her.

Éponine said nothing, she just looked at the ground.

"Why don't we get supper?" Mirabella suggested trying to smile, "do you know where the dining hall is?"

"No, but Mademoiselle it would be my pleasure if you were to take us there," Tony smiled at her causing her to blush.

Alex and Tony followed the girls as they directed them towards the dining hall, Éponine still did not utter a single word and she still was not smiling. A knot seemed to form in the pit of Alex's stomach, although he wasn't sure why something inside him told him that he now owed Éponine an apology.


	9. Chapter 9

Alex made a note that throughout all of dinner Éponine had barely said a word, he did not know that the words he had spoken about her earlier had made such an impact. A knot had been developing inside his chest and was screaming at him that he need to apologized for speaking so carelessly. And yet he didn't act on it until he saw her hastily clearing away her tray and heading out the door, hot on her heels he followed her out into the night.

"Eponine!" he called out to her.

With a sigh she stopped and turned to face him, "Yes?

"I wanted to talk to you," Alex began, "about earlier."

Éponine shook her head, "That's not necessary."

"Yes it is," Alex replied, "I did not mean what I said earlier."

"Then why did you say it," Éponine asked, "I poured my heart out to you, I though that would count for something."

"It does," Alex replied with a sigh, "I said it because," he paused, "because... Well, because I see you as more then that."

Éponine had her attention turned to the ground and she slowly made eye contact with him, "What are you trying to say."

Now Alex's voice was caught in his throat, he gulped slightly, "I'm not really sure myself..."

Éponine snorted, rolled her eyes and began to walk away, Alex reached out and grabbed her left arm, from where he stood he could clearly see the numbers "181532" imprinted in her skin.

Éponine tried to pull away from hi but his grip was vise like, "Let go of me!" she complained.

"No," Alex replied, "'Ponine please listen to me."

"'Ponine? Who said that you could call me that?" Éponine had stopped fighting against him and her arm fell limp.

"No one," Alex replied calmly, "I just like the sound of it," he shrugged as he still held onto her hand.

They looked at each other for what seemed like ages until a natural impulse kicked in that seemed to be bringing them towards each other and to lean in. Their faces were barely an inch away from each other and he could smell the trace of what seemed like Ivory soap on her skin.

"Hey you!" A young British officer who had been patrolling called out to them, they quickly pulled away from each other and Alex let go of her hand.

"Get to the barracks, it's almost past curfew," the officer barked, "and you," he turned on Alex, "you don't even belong on this side of the camp!"

Éponine had wanted to respond, but her English was so out of use that she didn't know how to respond properly, Alex spoke instead, "It's alright sir, I'm a volunteer here," he said in perfect English.

The officer looked taken aback, "I'm sorry for mistaking you," he bowed his head and then lowered his voice, "do you have ummm... Affections? For this girl? She is a refu-"

"I know who she is," Alex cut him off, "and she can understand you."

The officer's face flushed and Éponine as she looked on smirked slightly.

"Well..." The young officer began to stammer, "Miss, you really ought to be heading to the barrack, they will lock the door soon."

"Thank you sir," Éponine replied in English, she flashed a smile at Alex and departed in the direction of her barrack her heart feeling lighter then it did before.

Alex walked off on his own leaving the soldier with his duties, and as he did he could see the young man look at him one more time and shaking his head. Alex pressed his lips into a thin line, why would it be seen as being strange to be with a girl like Éponine? She wasn't really different from anyone else, but this was a lie and Alex knew it. If Éponine had truly not been different from any other girl it was unlikely that he would have the feelings for her that he did. Yet the way the officer reacted, was it because she was a refugee? Someone without a place to go? It seemed unlikely, it was probably that combined with the fact that she was a Jew, this wasn't supposed to happen. He sighed and thought about Cosette and Marius, he also thought about the girl that Tony had obviously been flirting with throughout dinner, why were they to be treated as off limits? They were human like everyone else and should be viewed as such, Alex decided as he walked through the deserted camp towards the volunteer barrack he was staying in.

"So how did it go?" Tony called from his perch on the top bunk of the bed he shared with Alex, "is Éponine okay?"

"She's fine," Alex replied, "we worked everything out," there was no way he was going to tell Tony about the almost kiss, if he did he knew that he would never hear the end of it for probably as long as he lived.

"I just was wondering, I saw her rush out of there with you behind her," Tony paused.

Alex quickly explained that reason for her being upset was because she had thought that he was not her friend.

"Yes, you did not make it very clear when you were speaking with her friends," Tony nodded, he had propped himself up on his elbow.

"I know that now," Alex sighed, "so I went and I apologized to her."

"Well that's good, but it certainly took you awhile to get back here," Tony smirked, "go for a little walk in the moonlight?"

"No, Tony," Alex replied sharply, "I just had a slight disagreement with an officer on duty, now what about you and 'Ponine's friend... What's her name?"

"Mirabella, or Bella for shirt," Tony smiled and rolled back on his bed and looked at the ceiling, "lovely girl, pretty, has a good sense of humour and witty."

"I guess," Alex shrugged, after all he wasn't interested in her, "but she doesn't necessarily seem like your type of girl from what I've seen.

"That's because there hasn't really been anyone in my life worth going steady for," Tony replied.

Alex looked at him and shock, "Did you just say going steady? You would go steady with her?" Steady was not a term he ever thought would leave Tony's mouth not in jest.

"I don't necessarily mean her," Tony replied, "but she is a very nice girl, maybe my father is right, you can't flit about till the end of your days."

"I can't believe it, I think I'm hearing sense come from you," Alex laughed slightly.

"Well you can't always expect me to be the joker, can you?" Tony readjusted his position on the bunk.

"I suppose not," Alex replied as he began to undo the buttons on his shirt, "I'm just surprised is all."

Tony glared and threw his thin pillow so it smacked Alex in the face, Alex simply picked the pillow up from off of the floor and tossed it on his own bunk below.

"What?" Tony exclaimed, "that's not how this is supposed to work! You are supposed to give it back to me!"

"You threw it," Alex hooked his shirt on a poled next to the bed, "why should I give it back?"

"Because!" Tony complained.

Alex sighed and shook his head, he then reached onto his be and gave Tony back his pillow, "Fine, here is your goddamn pillow."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the women's side of the camp Éponine had exchanged her dress for a simple shift she had made for herself and was sitting on her bed as if she was in a daze.

"'Ponine?" Azelma called as she sat upon her own bed, "'Ponine?"

Éponine looked at her sister, "What is it 'Zelma?"

"You were looking off into space, what's wrong with you?" Azelma replied as she brushed a stray strand of her ginger hair from her face.

"Nothing is wrong," Éponine replied, "I'm fine, perhaps I'm just tired?" she shrugged her shoulder slightly, "maybe it's the heat? After all it has been very hot as of late."

Azelma sighed but said nothing more as she laid down in her own cot and pulled the thin wool blanket over her.

Éponine let out a sigh of relief, she didn't want to explain anything about her and Alex just yet, especially when she wasn't even sure if there really anything between them. Nothing happened, they had not kissed... Although she did find herself dreaming that night about what it would have been like if the British officer had not seen them.


	10. Chapter 10

Life at Atlit continued to be it's same routine day in and day out, the only change in Éponine's day was when she was able to find Alex around the grounds, their relationship had not progressed and they tried to avoid speaking about that night. But whenever she found herself without his company she was bored, it was the same thing every day, wake up, eat, have lessons in sewing, Hebrew and other useful subjects and so on. At first she enjoyed the steady meals, and being able to have a good life for once but now she felt trapped within the confines of the camp, there had been little cause to celebrate except for when Marius had been released from the infirmary because his TB had cleared. The months at Atlit began to pass slowly and now it was October, the godawful summer heat and humidity was passing and cooling off to be a more pleasant weather as Éponine wandered around the perimeter of the womens camp.

"Are we ever going to get out of here?" Azelma asked as she approached her sister, "this is too much like, like..." Azelma still struggled with speaking the name of that awful place.

"I know," Éponine sighed but tried to smile, "but I'm sure we'll get out of here soon enough."

"I hope you're right," Azelma lowered her head, "I hate it here."

Éponine looked through the fence towards then mens side and she saw Alex walking around by himself, he looked like something was on his mind but what is was she wasn't sure.

But Éponine had no knowledge as to what was going on behind the scenes at the camp and outside of it as well, the Palmach had gathered all they needed to know and were ready to stage their breakout. They would do their best to get all of those at the camp out so they could be free and out of the grasp of the British. Alex had been spying on the interior of the camp and was more than ready to help them escape and he knew that tomorrow they would get confirmation from Yitzhak that everything was cleared and they would be ready to go. He had not spoken about the about the escape with Éponine or any of the other of the detainees as were his orders, but it was eating at him. When ever he didn't speak with her and he saw her trapped behind the fence while he could come and go as he pleased. Still, there was only a few short days before they put the plan in motion and he was sure he could wait and keep the plan a secret. Going back to his barrack he found Tony sitting on his bunk with his shoes off, and his shirt hanging off the edge, he was reading a letter from home.

"My mother wants to know when we are returning home," Tony sighed.

"I suppose she has a right to worry about such things," Alex replied as he looked to see he also had a letter on his bed, it was from his father. He picked up in envelope and opened it and read it's contents, he frowned and tossed it onto his bed.

"Not good?" Tony asked.

"When it's from my father it is never good," Alex replied, "wants me to stop wasting my time and that nothing good will come from staying in Palestine."

"Doesn't sound any different than any of the other letters," Tony replied.

"I know, it's just so... Infuriating," Alex let out a sigh, "he doesn't understand the importance of what we are doing here."

"Of course he doesn't," Tony remarked, "how could he know of all the work you've put in for the Palmach?"

Alex inhaled deeply, "I suppose you're right, I guess he will never understand."

"Besides I thought you stopped caring if you got his approval or not, long ago," Tony flopped back onto his bed.

"I know, I know," Alex sat upon his bed.

xx

The next morning Alex got up early in order to greet Yitzhak who would be entering the camp under the disguise of a British officer, once he cleared the check point at the gate he met up with Alex.

"Good to see you my boy," Yitzhak continued to speak with a British accent, which Alex had to admit was rather convincing.

"Good to see you as well," Alex navigated him towards a more secluded area in the camp where they were not likely to be disturbed, "what are the plans?"

"We get out tomorrow night," Yitzhak lowered his voice, "start spreading the word amongst the refugees that they should have a bag packed and no questions should be asked."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Alex asked.

"Yes, we've been watching this place for months and we've made good plans, it has to work," Yitzhak clapped Alex on his shoulder, "as soon as they are out we need to take them to Nahal Yagur and go from there."

The name of the the place was unfamiliar to Alex, but most of the geography of Palestine still was strange to him, "What is that place? Nahal Yagur?" He struggled with the proper pronunciation of the name.

"It is basically a dry riverbed, it's not the easiest of routes but it will be the best, if they send out officers it will be too dark and the trucks can't follow us down there," Yitzhak explained."

"Why is that?" Alex asked, the idea of a dry riverbed didn't sound to threatening.

"It's deep in the woods, also it's very rocky and in some places unstable, you really can only go down there on foot," Yitzhak explained.

Alex still didn't understand completely but he instead continued listening to Yitzhak's instructions, "Very well, but after we finish with...Nahal Yagur they need to go somewhere, don't they?"

"Yes, there is a Kibbutz about five kilometers away, we'll take them there," Yitzhak explained.

The term "Kibbutz" was one he had heard during his many months in Palestine and Alex had only a slight familiarity with it, but he wasn't going to disrupt Yitzhak with that. "Alright, they can stay there, and it's as simple as that? We break in, get them out and run?"

"That's all you need to worry about," Yitzhak smiled, "we of course have back up's and decoys all along the way, but you just concern yourself with getting the refugees out and to safety, and we will have a few of our men who know they route you are taking, your job is simple, you see?"

Alex nodded his confirmation, he was surprised at how simple everything seemed to be, it almost seemed too simple, could a plan like this really work? He supposed they would find out soon enough.

Yitzhak began to speak louder in his British accent once more, "And that is all my good man," he nodded his head and walked away from Alex.

Alex stood their for a moment to completely process the information, he soon went off in search for Tony but had no success in locating his friend, he had looked in the volunteers barracks, the mens, barracks, everywhere and Tony was not to be found.

"Alex?" A soft feminine voice called, it was Éponine from the other side of the fence, "is something the matter?" She asked.

"Wha-? Oh no, I've just been trying to find Tony..."Alex paused, he was supposed to be speaking with the refugees, obviously Yitzhak must be busy locating the other infiltrators and spreading the word, there was no need for him to do that. "'Ponine, can you come closer?"

Éponine looked at him warily and carefully stepped towards the fence, but the barbed wire kept her from getting to close.

"I need you to listen to me," Alex began, "we are going to get you and the other refugees out of here."

"What?" Éponine was shocked, "but how-"

"Never mind how," Alex was speaking in hushed tones, it's just important that you do as I say, you and everyone else needs to get their belongings packed, take only what you need with you."

"Well I don't have much so I-"

"'Ponine, please," Alex cut her off, "please, just be ready to go at moments notice, but we don't want to arouse suspicion with the guards, do you understand?"

Éponine nodded her head causing her brown curls to bounce slightly, "I understand."

"Good," Alex spoke with a slight sigh.

Carefully Éponine slipped her hand through the opening in the fence, Alex took her hand, "Trust me, everything will be alright, I promise it will."

Éponine didn't so anything but quietly withdrew her hand and placed it at her side, "I should be going..."

Before Alex could say anything else to her she had turned and departed leaving Alex alone in the cool morning at Atlit.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been a tad busy with packing to return home to America and with researching the breakout of Atlit, funny enough Nahal Yagur is a hike a recently did about a week ago, so I'm pretty familiar with the terrain.


	11. Chapter 11

October 9, 1945

It was late at night and Alex and the rest of his friends along with a couple members of the Palmach who were on the camp were wondering around the camp with wire cutters hidden in their pockets. They had split up going to designated "weak spots" in the fence began to cut the barbed wire so the detainees would be able to escape. They worked quickly and quietly all the while hoping that the noise of the cut wire would not be heard by any officers on patrol. Alex's hands shook slightly as he clipped the wire and it curled up slightly once it was cut, cutting a few more lines and moving the remains there was a sizable hole that they would be able to escape out of.

"That's good," one of the Palmach men by the name of Dan nodded, "we've got it from here, you take your friend ehh... Tony, go wake the refugees," he had a thick accent.

"Which ones?" Alex asked, they were both conversing in English.

"We are closer to the womens side, go there," Dan decided.

Alex was about to say something but instead he went up to Tony and tapped him on the shoulder, he switched to his native French, "You and me are going to go get the detainees from the womens side."

Tony didn't reply he just quickly followed Alex through the grass, if they walked along the gravel the crunching of their shoes would surely give them away, they waited until they were sure they couldn't be seen entering the barrack. They quickly woke the women and children there who had already packed their belongings and moved onto to each barrack and they reached the last one.

"'Ponine," he bent down beside her sleeping form, "'Ponine wake up," he gently touched her shoulder and slowly her eyes opened, "it's time to go, get ready," immediately she sat up and pulled at the suitcase she shared with Azelma, she had been sleeping in her clothes so all she had to do was slip on her shoes before she turned to wake her sister. Within five minutes all were awake and waiting anxiously, Alex peered out the window in the barrack and could see Dan waving frantically, "let's go," he spoke first in French, English and then used the Hebrew phrase he had learnt for the mission. The refugees quietly followed Alex and Tony out the barracks and were guided to the holes that were made in the fence that they slipped through and began running through the wheat fields towards the forest.

Alex then turned to Dan, even though they were quiet he was afraid they would be seen by the guards that were in the watch towers, "How is it that they haven't stopped us yet?" he whispered to the young solider.

"We took care of it," Dan replied with a slight smirk.

Alex said nothing more as he continued to urge the refugees through the fence, he noticed Éponine and her sister lingering towards the back, once everyone else had gotten through he took her hand, "You go ahead with the others, we will be right behind you."

Éponine sighed slipped through the fence and waited for a Azelma before they ran towards the forest where the rest of the refugees were waiting for what was going to happen next. Once everyone was through the fence and the first part of their plan was a success Alex and Tony ducked through the fence and followed the rest of the Palmach men, it wasn't until they reached the edge of the forest that they heard the British officers at Atilt taking action, they turned on search lights and started their trucks and Jeeps to begin their search.

Alex had been so intent on running he hadn't realized that Éponine who was standing just in the trees had stopped, he ended up running into her, "Are you alright?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yes, I'm fine," Éponine replied but she bit at her lower lip, "they aren't going to catch us will they," she nodded towards the distant camp.

"Not if we keep moving they won't," Alex replied, "come on further into the trees, I don't know the route but there are others who do." They quickly joined the rest of the Palmach soldiers and the refugees in depths of woods walking along a path that just kept going down and down. Soon the path turned to large stones and boulders that looked like they must be a sort of dried up waterfall, Éponine halted at the top letting Alex go down first, she clutched her suitcase to her chest.

"I won't let you fall," he spoke in a hushed tone, "I swear on my life that nothing will happen to you, you just need to trust me."

Nervously Éponine handed him the suitcase and slowly began to climb down the stones, at one point she could not find a foot hold and she slipped, Alex sprang into action catching her before she fell, "I told you I wouldn't let you fall."

Éponine smiled at him and righted herself and picked up her suitcase and started walking ahead of him once more. They continued to walk silently, navigating through the dry riverbed and making sure no one was left behind and soon they began to get near to where the riverbed ended turned to a field which became a trail snaking up the Carmel mountain. From up front one of the other men had run back to report what was ahead.

"We need to hurry up, we need to get across that field and up the mountain before sunrise," the young man huffed to his fellow men, Alex listened intently trying to understand what they were saying.

"He's saying we need to hurry, the sun will rise soon," Dan reported to him, "if that happens the Brits will catch us, you see?" Dan turned back to the young man and switched to Hebrew, "have you suggested leaving the suitcases behind."

"Yes, Yitzhak already tried that," the man replied, "they refuse to leave them, we are at a standstill."

Dan huffed, "Well we aren't at a standstill if we keep moving, hopefully our decoy trucks will distract the officers away from us."

"What's going on?" Éponine turned to Alex.

"We need to hurry up that's all," Alex didn't wish to cause Éponine any unnecessary worry, "we'll be there soon enough."

Éponine huffed and continued walking but she had picked up her pace, glancing back over her shoulder once more she looked at Alex not really sure if she should believe him or not. As she continued to walk the forest began to thin out and she was soon directed to run as fast as she could across the open space, which she did even though there were many obstacles in her path including fence remains and large rocks. Soon she was once again under the protection of the trees and she found herself looking up a mountain's steep slope, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she saw many of the refugees struggling to scale the steep climb.

"How are we supposed to climb that?" Éponine panted before swearing under her breath in rapid French, "I can't do this, how can they expect us to do this? Refugees are not soldiers!" she snapped.

"'Ponine please," Alex came up to her, "we have to, you want to be free don't you?"

Éponine pressed her lips into a fine line, she wanted to argue but she also knew Alex was right, "Are you sure we can make it? What if the sun rises?"

"Then the sun rises," Alex shrugged, "that isn't the problem right now, what we need to do is get everyone up this mountain and out of harms way."

Éponine's nervousness was not eased but she didn't want to let that show, instead she began the climb up the mountain which in total took an hour to complete, the dark sky had been broken with red and orange from the sunlight.

"Keep going, we are almost there," Alex told all the refugees, he could see in the distance the gate that belonged to Kibbutz Beit Oren. But nothing can stop nature and the sun continued to rise, he could see in the distance over a pass what looked like British troops approaching. Without saying anything he continued to urge the refugees forward and hope or the best. The descent down Mount Carmel was easier then climbing up, but like Éponine had said before refugees were not soldiers and now the sun left everything a pale pink color as it climbed higher to the sky, thankfully they were mere meters from the camp, the only question was did they beat the British? Once they approached the gate to Beit Oren it wasn't shut and cars and people were pouring in by the hundreds, none of them were the British military.

"Come quickly!" One of the residents ushered all the people along with refugees inside the gate of the Beit Oren, soon it was impossible to tell who was from Atlit and who wasn't, in the crowd Alex lost track of Éponine and her siblings.

"Eponine?" Alex called, "'Ponine? 'Ponine where are you!"

Dan came up to him, "We don't have time for that now, you'll find her later! Just get everyone through the damn gate!"

Alex knew what his duty was and sadly he left the task of finding Éponine for later and turned to rushing the refugees through the gate. Within the half hour the kibbutz was then flocked with British military who were searching for the escaped refugees. Their search was proving to be futile, none of the people who were a part of the kibbutz, nor the ones who had shown up early in the morning were giving the refugees away, perhaps they themselves could not distinguish between them as well.

"Have you seen any refugees on this kibbutz?" A solider had approached Éponine.

Éponine frantically shook her head knowing that if she even uttered one syllable the would notice her accent and know she was not a resident with me.

"She's with me," Tony approached her speaking to the guard in English, "My sister, we live here."

"I'm sure the young lady is capable of telling me that herself," the solider turned back to Éponine.

"Yes, and she would love to, right 'Ponine?" Tony turned to her, "she's very shy is all."

Éponine nodded her head once again

"I see..." The solider glowered at him before leaving to continue his search, once he left Éponine let out a sigh of relief.

There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of people and she had found herself separated from everyone she knew except for Tony. "I need to find 'Zelma, 'Vroche and-" Éponine stopped.

"'And who?" Tony asked.

"It's nothing," Éponine replied.

Tony smiled knowingly, "don't worry I'll help you find him."


End file.
